The journey of entrepreneurship is laced with thorns. It requires vision, passion and drive. Yet, the ability to build something viable from the ashes of frustration is one of the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur. Alhaji Kabir Bawa understood all this for he had the advantages of the born entrepreneur and the benefits of the trained entrepreneur who met success through continuous development.
The dream that became Afro Foods and Spices was conceived many years ago when Nigerians were plagued by incessant deaths caused by the consumption of chemical infested beans popularly known as killer beans. In the midst of this tragedy, Alhaji Kabir Bawa saw an opportunity. As he pondered over it, he had a series of embarrassing experiences at the Customs and Quarantine Offices; these experiences usually occurred whenever he travelled out of the country with food. The experiences nourished the seed that was his idea to establish a food processing company in Nigeria. But the shove that he needed to implement his idea came when his Ogbono was confiscated due to lack of proper labelling and packaging. That singular incident brought forth the birth of the business. Alhaji Kabir then decided to process and package some of Nigeria’s local food so as to prevent such embarrassing moments in the future.
Bawa spent the next few years researching on other global brands which packaged processed foods, especially in China and India. When he had a reasonable grasp of the sector, he established Afro Foods and Spices in 2012 using the funds from his savings and with support from the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin). His aim was to furnish Nigerian consumers at home and in the with food products that are hygienically selected, refined, sorted, polished and tested against any harmful substance using the most modern instruments and safety standards at a competitive price using the most modern processing machines.
Years later, Afro Foods and Spices has built a reputation for itself in the organic food market. Their products which include cowpea beans (black eye beans, brown beans), ginger, chilli pepper, iodized salt, garlic, rice, sugar, fonio, yam, onions and more are sold on the Nigerian and European market. Their customers include eateries, superstores, hotels, wholesalers, ordinary consumers nationwide, and in Africa and European.
Afro Foods and Spices Limited is a subsidiary of Afro Dimension Company Limited. Its corporate head office is located in Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) with branches in Niger, Nassarawa, Kaduna and Kebbi states in the northern part of Nigeria.
Featured image source: Afro Food